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Ward Wight Sotheby's International Realty
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(ARA) - Moving is such an exciting time as you look forward to acquainting yourself with your new home. But along with the excitement comes the long list of things to do. You need to get boxes, pack items, decide if you need help, clean the house, etc. The list goes on and on until you feel overwhelmed.
There are many steps that can help make the moving process happen seamlessly. One way to eliminate stress is to hire a moving company. Moving companies provide a variety of services and can save you a lot of time and frustration. Here are some pre-move steps to consider:
Inventory: Go from room to room in your home and make a list of all the things that you will be moving. Taking an inventory of your processions will help you stay organized. This will also help when you're ready to get a quote from moving companies and when deciding which insurance you need.
Eliminate: Everyone has processions that they don't need or want any more. Moving is a perfect time to eliminate these extra items to free up space in your new home. Consider giving away unneeded items to the local thrift store or charity. Remember, the less stuff you have, the less you have to move.
Hire Movers: Decide whether your budget allows for a professional moving company. The easiest way to do research is to visit MovingGuru.com. Instead of having to call various companies for quotes, simply fill out the form on the Web site and up to six companies in your area will call or email you. After receiving bids and deciding which one is best for you, book the deal.
Insurance: Because you already took inventory, look at the list and decide the value of your processions. Consider getting comprehensive insurance through your moving company. Insurance will protect the value of all your belongings.
Pack: Most moving companies do the packing for you, then load and unload the truck. If you decided to pack on your own, use sturdy boxes that can be found at moving companies, truck rental companies or most office supply stores.
Professional moving companies can make moving a breeze virtually eliminating stress and manual labor. The easiest way to find a reputable moving company at a great rate is to visit www.MovingGuru.com. Fill out the form and let the moving companies come to you. It is one less thing you need to think about during this hectic time, making the excitement of moving that much better.
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Piracy runs rampant on the Internet, but Daniel Castro says it doesn't have to be this way. He wants the US government to start creating a blacklist of Internet sites; once approved by a judge, each site would be cut off from American Internet users at the Domain Name System (DNS) level, where readable locations like "arstechnica.com" are turned into numerical IP addresses. US-based credit card companies would be forbidden from doing any business with the site, and US-based advertising networks couldn't serve ads to the site.
Sound familiar? It should—this is the basic outline of the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA) legislation first introduced in Congress last year. Castro, a senior analyst at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), coauthored a 2009 paper on Internet piracy (PDF) that included many of the ideas that found their way into COICA.
He testified this month before Congress about the need for such measures, and I spoke to him recently about Web blocking, censorship, and why he believes that deep packet inspection (DPI) of Internet traffic by ISPs is more like Gmail than wiretapping. As for due process, Castro says COICA is fair—but he's open to some tweaks.
Crime fighting, Internet-style
Ars: I'm sure we can both agree that there's plenty of piratical behavior on the Internet, but the key question is how we deal with that reality. In your view, why is something like COICA the right way forward?
Castro: If you accept the fact that piracy is a problem, government needs to do something. You have to start from that premise. So if you accept that premise, the question is what's the most effective way of reducing infringement?
The problem we have right now is that there's different types of actors: domestic [pirate] sites, foreign sites, domestic consumers, foreign consumers. You have different strategies for dealing with each of these groups. For domestic sites, you can do things like taking down sites very easily. For foreign sites, you can't do that. The question is, are there other options? Of course there are. You can block sites, for example, at the DNS level. Or you can get everyone who's involved in the Internet, the different intermediaries, to come together and find ways to combat piracy, and that's what COICA is about.
Ars: There has been a host of criticisms about the way COICA might be implemented. One of them I've heard repeatedly is that the utility of DNS censorship is going to be fairly low, given that people can still access the sites in question by IP address or by switching DNS providers. Is this just about making piracy a little bit harder?
Castro: Nobody, including myself, makes the claim that DNS blocking will be 100 percent effective. It might not even be 90 percent effective. But the question is, is it effective enough that it's worth the cost of doing it? I think the consensus from the people that can do it is that yes, it is. There's a very low cost if you have a single list of sites that are engaged in piracy. Once you have this list, there's a variety of steps you can take to make accessing these sites more difficult.
It's crime-fighting. You never stop all crime; the point is, can you reduce it to a tolerable level. Right now, we're not really doing all that much to combat piracy and counterfeiting, and there is a lot more that we can do. As long as the steps are reasonable, we should take them.
Ars: In attempting to seize a recent child porn domain name, ICE accidentally took down an extra 80,000 sites and redirected them to a banner claiming that they had been busted as part of a child porn investigation. Do you have concerns about this DNS-based approach to site blocking, especially since COICA's site blocking hearings could be largely non-adversarial?
Castro: Well, that gets to the issue of process, and certainly the process failed with that ICE takedown. That means it should be corrected; I absolutely agree with that. One of the proposals at the hearing where I testified was that the government might give advance notice at times. You can certainly envision a 72-hour notice period where you let the site know that it has infringing content, we are intending to take it down, and you have 72 hours to respond. That's one possibility. We don't do that in the real world with counterfeiting; we go in and seize counterfeit goods when we see them. If a crime is happening, the police can stop it immediately, and there's a limited amount of time in which they can do so without going to a judge. You can stop a crime in progress, and that's the same question we have on the Internet now.
Ars: I was speaking with Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) about this several weeks ago, and she was very sharp on the "due process" issue. She argued that what was going on with ICE takedowns right now were a travesty of justice and probably illegal, in part because of the seize-first-ask-questions-later approach. But it sounds like you're more open to notification and a chance to respond before some of this blacklisting takes effect.
Castro: Sure. I think there's a couple things to keep in mind. You might want to act so swiftly on some sites that you don't notify them. For example, a site like WatchSeason5Episode2ofDexter.tv, which appears right after the show airs. A reasonable process would say that someone in law enforcement can look at the site, talk to the content owner, and agree that it is an infringing site. Maybe they can take that one down in real-time.
Something else that may be a little more ambiguous might have a 72-hour notice, where the site could come back and possibly provide evidence that what happened was incorrect. Remember, of all the sites that ICE has taken down so far, no one has come back and said, "I really wasn't an infringing site," with that one exception.
Ars: Sure, but isn't that a bit like saying, "We took down all of these allegedly infringing sites and none of the foreign operators behind them hired an expensive US lawyer to get their domain name back, so they must agree with what we did"?
Castro: If my site was taken down illegally by the federal government, I would complain very loudly. And we haven't heard that from the ones who were taken down. I think they know they were engaging in illegal activity, and some people have said they've stopped.
Ars: You draw a distinction between different kinds of sites. But what we've seen from ICE so far has involved many sites which were clearly infringing, but also sites where it wasn't so clear—sites that engage only in linking, for instance, or those that link to illegal content but also to legal material. So it's interesting to hear you call for something better than a one-size-fits-all approach.
Castro: The purpose of COICA is to go after sites that are dedicated to infringing, where there is a significant portion of the content which is infringing. It's not to say that you can avoid penalties by posting entire seasons of HBO shows alongside a few public domain photos. I think that's ridiculous. Of course you can take down the whole site. There are distinctions that can be made. But at the same time, nobody's talking about taking down someone's personal website because they happen to use a copyrighted photo.
Ars: One of the things Lofgren warned about was that if you go down this road, government agencies like ICE could one day choose to shut down Google. Your reaction?
Castro: I don't think anyone seriously thinks that ICE is going to shut down Google. Sites that play by the rules are in no danger of being taken down because that's the whole point: they're part of the solution, not part of the problem.
Ars: Many of these issues are international. For instance, one of the domains taken down in a recent seizure was the Spanish rojadirectas.com, which was declared legal by Spanish courts. Countries obviously have the right to prevent behavior at home that is legal abroad, but it does seem like this gets a bit more complicated when you're trying to do things like COICA is: preventing multinational payment processors and ad networks from working with companies that are legal in their own jurisdictions. Any concerns about extending US law too far when it comes to shaping the Internet?
Castro: I don't think there's a problem with asking companies in the United States to protect other companies and IP rights holders in the United States. They are based here, they should follow US laws. The fact that a country doesn't protect intellectual property is no excuse to just give them free reign to do whatever they want.
Ars: Should private companies be able to go to court under COICA to obtain website blocks, or should that be reserved for government?
Castro: I don't think there needs to be a private right of action, but there needs to be an easy way for rightsholders to report that their content is being infringed upon and have a process so that enforcement action can be taken. If it appears the government alone is unable to provide a significant level of enforcement, then I think a private right is something that should be considered.
Ars: In your 2009 paper, you talked about getting even more Internet intermediaries involved in antipiracy work, even saying that ISPs should install deep packet inspection (DPI) gear to monitor traffic flowing through their network for possible copyright violations. Would you still like to see ISPs get more involved?
Castro: Yes. ISPs certainly have a role in reducing infringement. One recent study found that more than 25 percent of content on the Internet is infringing content. This has a big impact on ISPs and on all users who are not downloading that material. That's why I think it's important to allow ISPs to engage with their customers who are downloading illegal content in different ways; one of those ways would be deep packet inspection.
That is not wiretapping. Wiretapping is when someone is reading your communications, reading your e-mails. Deep packet inspection can be an automated process, it can do content matching and identification, and it can provide a simple warning to a user. Or it could be used in "three strikes" legislation, like they have in a few European countries—where you receive notice and if it keeps happening, you receive some kind of penalty. If it continues, you might have your Internet connection terminated.
But there are other options as well. Content holders could advertise to these people. If you are downloading a certain band's music, that band could contact you to say, "Hey, we're going to be in your town next month, what if you buy these tickets?"
Ars: This talk about getting intermediaries more involved in stopping infringement sounds like a move away from the traditional "safe harbor" approach we have used for communications networks. How would this sort of approach differ from, say, asking a phone company to listen in on calls to prevent illegal activity, or to block a list of government provided numbers to alleged foreign mobsters?
Castro: If you call known foreign terrorists, your line is probably going to be tapped. But I don't think there's actually a parallel there. I don't think those are the same thing. Deep packet inspection is one option. And the key is that this is automated technology. When Gmail provides contextual ads by scanning your e-mail, there is not a privacy violation because there's no person on the other side who's reading your e-mail.
Fireworks and missiles ahead
COICA promises to be one of the crucial pieces of tech-related legislation that Congress will consider this year, and it promises to involve serious fireworks. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has already promised that COICA will pass this year, but he's up against Senators like Ron Wyden (D-OR), who said last year that COICA was "like using a bunker-busting cluster bomb when what you really need is a precision-guided missile." Wyden has promised to "take the necessary steps to stop [COICA] from passing the United States Senate."
To catch up on our complete COICA interview series, check out our conversations with Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), who supports COICA with a few changes, and with Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), a fierce opponent of everything that COICA represents.

subset: commoncrawl


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BLKS_GETS_PER_ACCESS Index Rebuild Criteria ? (Twisted Logic) April 20, 2011Posted by Richard Foote in Indexing Myth, Oracle Indexes, Validate Structure.
18 comments
A recent question on the database OTN forum and a previous request by Charles Hooper that I cover some basic indexing concepts for newbie's who might be confused by "dubious" information out there in internet land has prompted me to discuss the BLKS_GETS_PER_ACCESS metric, available in INDEX_STATS after an analyze validate structure operation.
The OTN thread had someone questioning why after freshly rebuilding an index, the index still had a particularly "high" BLKS_GETS_PER_ACCESS value of 110 and wouldn't reduce down below a value of 5. They requested if someone could please explain why the BLKS_GETS_PER_ACCESS was not getting reduced, as they wanted it to be below 5.
The two obvious questions I had in return were why of earth would anyone want the BLKS_GETS_PER_ACCESS to be below 5 and why on earth would they think rebuilding the index would reduce the BLKS_GETS_PER_ACCESS from a value of 110 down to 5.
However a quick Google search confirmed my suspicions, subsequently confirmed by the OP. This "Identifying Which Indexes to Rebuild" article by Don Burleson states:
"Gets per index access
The number of "gets" per access refers to the amount of logical I/O that is required to fetch a row with the index. As you may know, a logical "get" is not necessarily a physical I/O since much of the index may reside in the Oracle buffer cache. However, any SAP index with a number greater than 10 would probably benefit from an index rebuild."
"We might want to rebuild an index if the "block gets" per access is greater than five, since excessive "blocks gets" indicate a fragmented b-tree structure."
The same claims are made on page 727 in "Oracle Tuning: The Definitive Reference" .
The problem with all this of course is that it's a complete nonsense. The very idea of having a rebuild criteria based on BLKS_GETS_PER_ACCESS being greater than value "X" and that a subsequent index rebuild will reduce BLKS_GETS_PER_ACCESS down to less than value "X" shows a complete lack of understanding of what BLKS_GETS_PER_ACCESS actually represents.
BLKS_GETS_PER_ACCESS is basically the number of blocks required to get a randomly chosen row of interest via an index.
The Oracle Reference Manual describes BLKS_GETS_PER_ACCESS somewhat ambiguously as:
"Expected number of consistent mode block reads per row, assuming that a randomly chosen row is accessed using the index. Used to calculate the number of consistent reads that will occur during an index scan."
The key point here is that it's a "randomly" chosen row when accessed via the specific index.
Now in the case of a Unique index, the number of blocks needed to access a random row can easily be determined as simply being the height of the index plus one additional block to access the associated table block. If the index is Unique, there can only be one row per index value which requires precisely one visit to the table.
In the following example, we create a table with 1M rows with two indexes. The index on the ID column is effectively unique as there are 1M distinct values while the index on the CODE column is Non-Unique with only 100 distinct values and so with 10000 occurrences of each indexed value.
SQL> create table bowie (id number, code number, name varchar2(30)); Table created. SQL> insert into bowie select rownum, mod(rownum,100), 'ZIGGY STARDUST' from dual connect by level <= 1000000; 1000000 rows created. SQL> commit; Commit complete. SQL> create index bowie_id_i on bowie(id); Index created. SQL> create index bowie_code_i on bowie(code); Index created. SQL> exec dbms_stats.gather_table_stats(ownname=>null, tabname=>'BOWIE', cascade=>true, estimate_percent=>null, method_opt=> 'FOR ALL COLUMNS SIZE 1'); PL/SQL procedure successfully completed. SQL> select index_name, num_rows, distinct_keys from dba_indexes where table_name='BOWIE'; INDEX_NAME NUM_ROWS DISTINCT_KEYS ------------ ---------- ------------- BOWIE_CODE_I 1000000 100 BOWIE_ID_I 1000000 1000000
If we now collect INDEX_STATS on the effectively Unique index:
SQL> analyze index bowie_id_i validate structure; Index analyzed. SQL> select height, lf_rows, distinct_keys, rows_per_key, blks_gets_per_access from index_stats; HEIGHT LF_ROWS DISTINCT_KEYS ROWS_PER_KEY BLKS_GETS_PER_ACCESS ------ ---------- ------------- ------------ -------------------- 3 1000000 1000000 1 4
We can see that the BLKS_GETS_PER_ACCESS is 4 as expected. 3 due to the index height and additional 1 to access the specific row in the associated table block.
The formula Oracle uses here is basically:
So basically to calculate the BLKS_GETS_PER_ACCESS, we simply take the ROWS_PER_KEY, add 1 to it, then divide the total by 2 and finally add the index height to get the final value. The reason for this exact formula makes more sense when we look at a Non-Unique index.
How do we cost the access to a specific row via a non-unique index when there could be multiple occurrences of the specific index value ?
If there are say 100 occurrences of an indexed value, if we want the first of these within the index, then we need to access the same blocks as per the unique index (index height plus 1). However, if we want the last of these 100 occurrences referenced within the index, then we might need to access index height + the 100 blocks until we reach the last occurrence of the indexed value. If we're simply interested in an "average" row, then on average we might need to access 1/2 the ROWS_PER_KEY in addition to the index height.
So the formula is now basically HEIGHT + ROWS_PER_KEY/2. But as this is only an average guesstimate to begin with and so as we don't ruin the perfect value we can derive for Unique Indexes, the formula is adjusted a tad by adding 1 to the ROWS_PER_KEY/2 figure so that the result makes sense and is accurate for Unique indexes as well.
Hence the final formula of HEIGHT + (ROWS_PER_KEY + 1)/2.
If we now look at the index on the CODE column, which has only 100 distinct values (and so 10000 occurrences per distinct value):
SQL> analyze index bowie_code_i validate structure; Index analyzed. SQL> select height, lf_rows, distinct_keys, rows_per_key, blks_gets_per_access from index_stats; HEIGHT LF_ROWS DISTINCT_KEYS ROWS_PER_KEY BLKS_GETS_PER_ACCESS ------ ---------- ------------- ------------ -------------------- 3 1000000 100 10000 5003.5
We can see how this 5003.5 figure is actually derived.
The actual blocks needed to be accessed when using the index is of course also very highly dependant on the Clustering Factor (CF) of the index but the CF is not calculated as part of Index_stats. The BLKS_GETS_PER_KEY can therefore be viewed as being a guesstimate of the number of blocks required to read a specific indexed value, based on an "average" CF. As the maximum CF is LF_ROWS, an "average" CF can therefore be viewed as simply being 1/2 of LF_ROWS.
In the above example, an "average" CF would therefore be 1000000/2 = 500000.
To access all table blocks for a specific indexed value would therefore basically be:
500000/distinct keys = 500000/100 = 5000.
If we then add the index height = 5000 + 3 = 5003.
5003 is almost identical to 5003.5, the 0.5 difference simply attributed to the additional 1 that's added in the previous formula.
So BLKS_GETS_PER_ACCESS can effectively be viewed as being the either the number of blocks required to access a specific row "on average" within the table or the number of blocks required to read all occurrences of a specific index value IF the index had an average CF.
Note that both definitions are nothing but wild guesstimates of the blocks that might actually need to be accessed as both are making very broad assumptions in that the CF is indeed "average", that the accessed row of interest is indeed "somewhere near the middle" of the index range scan, that the data is indeed evenly distributed, etc. etc. The actual blocks that might need to be accessed when using the index could therefore be significantly different if these basic assumptions are not correct.
Now here come a few interesting points.
Firstly, note the formula used only takes into consideration the index height and the average expected accesses to the table. The possible accesses to additional index leaf blocks is not considered at all.
Why ?
Likely because the vast majority of accesses involving an index range scan actually involves the block reads associated with accessing the table, not reading the index itself. As the figure is only a very rough estimate to begin with, it's somewhat pointless adding a little here or there for the trivial additional leaf blocks that might need to be accessed during a scan . So in order to keep things simple, only the index height is considered in the actual BLKS_GETS_PER_ACCESS costings.
Therefore, an index rebuild is likewise going to have a trivial impact on the derived BLKS_GETS_PER_ACCESS as only the index height is considered in its calculation. In the vast majority of cases, rebuilding an index will have absolutely no impact at all as most index heights are not impacted by an index rebuild. In extremely rare occasions, an index might reduce its height but then the final BLKS_GETS_PER_INDEX is only going to reduced by 1. The absolute maximum amount that an index rebuild can impact the BLKS_GETS_PER_ACCESS is just HEIGHT-1.
In the above example, the BLKS_GETS_PER_ACCESS is 5003.5, substantially greater than 5 or 10 or even 42. However, rebuilding the index:
SQL> alter index bowie_code_i rebuild; Index altered. SQL> analyze index bowie_code_i validate structure; Index analyzed. SQL> select height, lf_rows, distinct_keys, rows_per_key, blks_gets_per_access from index_stats; HEIGHT LF_ROWS DISTINCT_KEYS ROWS_PER_KEY BLKS_GETS_PER_ACCESS ------ ---------- ------------- ------------ -------------------- 3 1000000 100 10000 5003.5
makes precisely no difference at all.
So what do we do, just keep rebuilding this same index week after week after week as it continually meets the ill-considered index rebuild guidelines …
Note also that the actual value of BLKS_GETS_PER_ACCESS could be anything, as it's primarily based on the number of rows per keys. For a very very large table on an index with relatively few distinct values, this figure could likewise be "very large", even with the most perfectly compact, defragmented index.
Therefore, having an index rebuild criteria based if some nominal value of BLKS_GETS_PER_ACCESS "is excessive" (be it 5 or 10 or 42 or 5000 or whatever) is simply nonsensical as this value has practically nothing to do with the efficiency of an index but is directly proportional to the average number of rows per index key.
Additionally, suggesting an index rebuild will have a significant impact on BLKS_GETS_PER_ACCESS is likewise nonsensical as the only cost directly attributed to the index itself is the index height, which very rarely changes following an index rebuild. In fact, the BLKS_GETS_PER_ACCESS formula specifically negates the impact of any potential index rebuilds by implicitly excluding index block leafs in its calculations.
In short, basing an index rebuild criteria on the value of BLKS_GETS_PER_ACCESS is totally ludicrous. It's actually similar to the silly myth that one should rebuild an index if the clustering factor is "too large", where in actual fact there is no such threshold value and an index rebuild doesn't impact the subsequent CF anyways.
I hate to think how many indexes have been repeatedly rebuilt unnecessarily based on a rebuild criteria where BLKS_GETS_PER_ACCESS is greater than value "X", when such an index rebuild has made absolutely no difference to the original rebuild criteria 😦


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Culture War on a Shoe String Budget
Posted by Foxfier on 2013/01/06
Over at the blog of the author, Sarah Hoyt, there's a very good post.
I was going to try to use the theme to combine with some conversations from over at Ricochet.com, but then she went and put what I would've been pointing at into its own paragraph:
Both of these endeavors will change your perception and you'll find yourself huffing at sitcoms you used to enjoy. This is good. Most of the politics are snuck into stuff like that (hence the directive that came down for more plots about healthcare in sitcoms and episodic dramas) and if you're not aware of them they'll insidiously color the way you see the world. It's brilliant to sneak them into entertainment because if you complain, you're a sour puss. But at this point they're not even subtle, and you'll start seeing them if you look: cardboard "conservative" characters who are anything but and who can't defend their positions. "Dangerous" tea partiers. Liberating yourself through having indiscriminate sex and stuff. The government as a fount of goodness. It's all there. And it's there on purpose.
There's more, some general stuff on how the polite refusal to inject politics into everything puts us at a bit of a disadvantage, and it's quite worth reading. Now, on to my comments:
She's right. My husband is a lot more easy going than I am, but we both can't watch some shows because of the obvious agenda involved. Recognizing it isn't just about paying attention or such– we had a rather long argument with my mother over a TV show that opened with a guy being shot inside his house by a SWAT team called in for a false hostage situation. (Before SWATting got big.) The show, and the woman who taught me to not trust the story that the news presented, held the SWAT team (personified by the leader) responsible. TrueBlue and I held those who certified that it was a hostage situation on an anonymous call from a random number as being responsible– there wasn't any way for the guys who'd been told they were going in to a known hostage situation to know that the guy charging them with a kitchen knife was righteously defending his house. The guy risking their lives had to be at fault, while the paper-pushers that actually created the entire situation had to be blameless– not even faceless, but as natural a thing as the sun rising, and as unquestioned. Something goes wrong? It's the fault of those uniformed Authority Figure guys. (Who all incidentally looked military.)
Stories set up the way we see the world.
One Response to "Culture War on a Shoe String Budget"
2013/01/12 at 11:43
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Time and time again, Washingtonians are taken advantage of by scammers who continually develop new, complex ways to con people. One scam that is particularly difficult to identify is the United States Census Scam.
Have you ever been in the middle of something and gotten a call from a number you didn't know? Have you answered the phone only to realize it's not even a person on the other side of the line? Are you tired of listening to prerecorded messages trying to sell you something from a telemarketing company that you want nothing to do with? Every year thousands of people deal with the same issue as you, but change may be coming!
Strange contraptions known as "skimmers" are targeting ATM users, and the AGO wants you to be prepared. When attached to your ATM, the device can be used to steal your credit card information, capture your pin code, and send the information wirelessly via Bluetooth or cell phone text. Don't let this happen to you!
Consumers who purchased an item from Wenatchee based company SuddenValues.com between November 1, 2010 and July 31, 2015 may be eligible for a refund.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson today marked his 50th visit to a Washington Rotary as Attorney General.
Yesterday, Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced charges against a Snohomish County caregiver for claiming pay for care while her client was in jail.
Natural disasters, such as the devastating earthquake in Nepal, often result in many looking for ways to help those in need.
Yesterday, our office announced that AG Ferguson filed a lawsuit against StudentLoanProcessing.US (SLP), a student loan debt adjusting firm, and its president James Krause for violating Washington's Debt Adjusting Act and Consumer Protection Act.
Earlier this week, Premera/Blue Cross announced that they have been the target of a major data breach.
Better Business Bureau is partnering with the Washington State Attorney General's Office for National Consumer Protection Week, March 1-7.
No, I don't mean by that last heartbreaking play, I'm talking about your tickets. There have been several reports of fans that purchased tickets from brokers that ended up not having tickets to sell at all.
Nearly two years after Standard & Poor's was accused of using deceptive practices leading up to and in the years following the Great Recession, S&P has agreed to settle charges totaling approximately $1.4 billion.
Deceptive car advertising will not be not tolerated, period. That is the strong message the Washington state Attorney General's Office sent to car dealers Sound Ford of Renton and Evergreen Ford of Issaquah.
Merchant Services Direct LLC (MSD), also known as Sphyra, LLC, is paying the price for their dishonest business practices.
If shoppers don't find the deals they seek on Black Friday, "Cyber Monday" is an opportunity to shop from the comfort of their own home. Online retailers promote the Monday after Thanksgiving as a day for exceptional bargains. Here are some tips for shopping safely online:


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Thai anti-government protesters rally in Bangkok
- Saturday's protest was organized by a group calling itself "Pitak Siam" — or "Protect Thailand"
- Protesters call for Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to step down
- Police fired tear gas to disperse people who tried to break through a line of concrete barricades
BANGKOK (AP) — Anti-government protesters calling for Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to step down launched a rally in Bangkok on Saturday that authorities feared would grow into the biggest demonstration the country has seen since she took office last year.
The rally, which was expected to draw tens of thousands of protesters, was mostly peaceful in its early stages. Police, however, fired tear gas to disperse between 50 to 100 people who tried to break through a line of concrete barricades erected on a street near the protest site.
Earlier in the week, Yingluck ordered nearly 17,000 police to deploy and invoked a special security law, citing concerns that the rally could turn violent. She also accused demonstrators of seeking to overthrow her elected government.
The demonstration underscores the still-simmering political divisions that have split the country since the army toppled Yingluck's brother Thaksin Shinawatra in a 2006 military coup.
Saturday's protest was organized by a royalist group calling itself "Pitak Siam" — or "Protect Thailand." Led by retired army Gen. Boonlert Kaewprasit, the group accuses Yingluck's administration of corruption, ignoring insults to the revered monarchy and being a puppet of Thaksin.
Addressing several thousand protesters on the rally's central stage on Saturday, Boonlert vowed the demonstration would remain peaceful. But he said: "I promise that Pitak Siam will succeed in driving this government out."
He then led the crowd in a chant: "Yingluck, get out! Yingluck, get out!"
The rally was being held at Bangkok's Royal Plaza, a public space near Parliament that has been used by protesters in the past.
Police allowed protesters into the site, and two roads leading to it were open. But in an effort to control access, security forces erected concrete barriers on another road leading to Royal Plaza. When between 50 to 100 protesters tried to break through one of the barriers, a contingent of around 500 police fired tear gas and beat them back with batons.
While Pitak Siam is a newcomer to Thailand's protest scene, it is linked to the well-known "Yellow Shirt" protesters, whose rallies led to Thaksin's overthrow. The same movement later toppled a Thaksin-allied elected government after occupying and shutting down Bangkok's two airports for a week in 2008.
Thaksin remains a divisive figure in Thai politics. The Yellow Shirts and their allies say he is personally corrupt and accuse him of seeking to undermine the popular constitutional monarch — charges Thaksin denies.
Yingluck was taking Saturday's rally seriously. Her Cabinet invoked the Internal Security Act on Thursday in three Bangkok districts around the protest site, and she later addressed the nation to explain the move, citing concerns of violence.
The security act allows authorities to close roads, impose curfews and ban use of electronic devices in designated areas. Measures began taking effect Thursday night, with police closing roads around Yingluck's office, the Government House, and placing extra security at the homes of senior officials, including the prime minister.
In a nationally televised address Thursday, Yingluck said protest leaders "seek to overthrow an elected government and democratic rule ... and there is evidence that violence may be used to achieve those ends."
National police chief spokesman Maj. Gen. Piya Uthayo said Friday that 16,800 police officers had been called in from around the country to provide security for the rally.
Boonlert, the protest group's leader, is best known for his role as president of the Thailand Boxing Association. His name is unfamiliar in the anti-Thaksin protest movement, but his message appears to have resonated with Yellow Shirt supporters who have laid low in recent years after Yingluck's party won the last elections.
Analysts said they did not view the protest as an immediate threat to Yingluck's government, but were watching it closely.
"Anytime you have tens of thousands of people converging, assembling in a central Bangkok location, it becomes a government stability concern," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.
But he added: "I think it's a serious concern more than a serious threat."
Thailand has been gripped by bouts of political instability since 2006, with Thaksin's supporters and opponents taking turns to spar over who has the right to rule the country.
The most violent episode came in 2010, when Thaksin's "Red Shirt" supporters led a two-month occupation of central Bangkok to demand the resignation of an anti-Thaksin government. The protests sparked a military crackdown that left at least 91 people dead and more than 1,700 injured.
Thaksin has lived in self-imposed exile since 2008, when he jumped bail to evade a corruption conviction and two-year jail term. He retains huge popularity among the rural poor, who want to see him pardoned and returned to power. But he is reviled by the urban elite and educated middle class, who see him as authoritarian and a threat to the monarchy.
Buoyed by Thaksin's political machine, Yingluck was elected by a landslide victory in August 2011. She initially was criticized for her lack of political experience — she was an executive in Shinawatra family businesses — but has won praise for leading the country through one of its longest peaceful periods in recent years.
Associated Press photographer Sakchai Lalitkanjanakul contributed to this report.


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The shortest good Halloween poem I've found is John Ciardi's limerick, "The Halloween House," an amusing send-up of children's tendency to pretend they're not afraid of haunted houses. It begins:
I'm told there's a Green Thing in there.
And the sign on the gate says BEWARE!
For copyright reasons, I can't quote all five lines of the poem. But you can find "The Halloween House" in Ciardi's The Hopeful Trout and Other Limericks (Houghton Mifflin, 1992), illustrated by Susan Meddaugh, which is out of print but on the shelves of many libraries. You can also find "The Halloween House" in Scared Silly! A Halloween Book for the Brave: An Arthur Adventure (Little, Brown, 64 pp., $7.95, paperback), illustrated by Marc Brown, which is in print and available through online and other booksellers. The Hopeful Trout is used in grades 2 and up in schools. Scared Silly! has gentle not-so-scary poems, jokes and more for preschoolers, written by a variety of authors.
© 2008 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved.


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Real Estate Terms
Early occupancy The condition in which buyers can occupy the property before the sale is completed.
Earnest money Money a buyer gives with an offer to purchase a property. Also called a deposit.
Earthquake insurance A policy that provides coverage against damage to a home from an earthquake.
Easement A right given to a third party to use a portion of the property for certain purposes, such as power lines or water mains.
Eaves The projecting overhang at the lower edge of a roof.
Effective age The age of a structure estimated by its condition rather than its actual age.
Effective gross income Additional income that a lender considers when assessing the loan application of a potential borrower.
Electric service panel A panel that transfers power from the utility line into a house to be distributed through fuses or circuit breakers.
Elevations The exterior view of a home design that shows the position of the house relative to the grade of the land.
Ell An extension or wing of a house that is at right angles to the main structure.
Eminent domain The government's right to condemn private land for public use, such as the routing of a public highway.
Employer-assisted housing Programs which help employees purchase homes through special plans developed with lenders.
Empty nesters Potential buyers who have raised their families and want to move into a smaller home.
Encroachment Fences or other structures that extend into the property of another owner.
Encumbrance A claim or lien on a property which complicates the title process.
End loan The conversion from a construction loan to permanent financing a condominium buyer secures after all units in a project have been completed.
Endorser A person who signs over ownership of property to another party.
English Tudor style An architectural design that features stone or brick exterior walls and exposed beams.
Environmental impact statement A government-mandated evaluation of all aspects and effects a development will have on the environment of a proposed site.
Environmentally friendly home construction A method of construction that utilizes recycled materials.
Equal Credit Opportunity Act. A federal law that prohibits a lender or other creditor from refusing to grant credit based on the applicant's sex, marital status, race, religion, national origin or age. The law also prohibits a creditor from refusing to grant credit because the applicant receives public assistance.
Equifax Equifax Credit Information Services, Inc., is one of the "Big Three" credit-reporting bureaus that operate nationwide. Address: P.O. Box 740249, Atlanta, GA 30374.
Equity A determination of the value of a property after existing liens are deducted.
Errors and omissions insurance A policy that pays for any mistakes a builder or architect makes in a project.
Escrow A neutral third party holds the documents and money involved in a real estate transaction and ensures that all conditions of a sale are met.. Escrow also refers to a special account that a lender establishes to hold monthly installments from the borrower to cover property taxes and insurance.
Escrow account An account that a lender or mortgage servicer establishes to hold funds for the payment of expenses such as homeowners insurance and property taxes. Also known as an impound account.
Escrow agent A neutral third party who ensures that all conditions of a real estate transaction are met.
Escrow analysis A lender's periodic examination of an escrow account to determine if the lender is withholding enough funds from a borrower's monthly mortgage payment to pay for expenses such as property taxes and insurance.
Escrow closing Escrow closes when all conditions of a real estate transaction are met and the title of the property is transferred to the buyer.
Escrow company Firms that act as neutral third parties to ensure that all conditions that the buyer, seller and lender establish in a real estate transaction are met.
Escrow payment Funds that a mortgage servicer withdraws from a borrower's escrow account to pay property taxes and insurance.
Estate The total assets of a person, including real property, at the time of death.
Eviction A legal procedure to remove a tenant for reasons including failure to pay rent.
Examination of title An inspection by a title company of public records and other documents to determine the chain of ownership of a property.
Excavation The process of clearing trees, removing topsoil and grading land before the foundation is laid.
Exclusive listing A contract that gives an agent the exclusive right to market a property for a specific period of time.
Executor A person appointed to carry out the instructions in a will. If there is no will, a probate court will appoint an executor.
Exhaust fan Ventilating devices that remove water vapor, undesired smells or smoke.
Experian Experian, formerly known as TRW Information Systems & Services, is one of the "Big Three" credit-reporting bureaus.. Address: 505 City Parkway West, Orange, CA 92868.


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Police & Fire: May 3, 2013
Drunk driving
Chippewa County Sheriff Deputies executed a traffic stop after observing a vehicle operating in an erratic fashion while northbound on Ashmun early today.
A subsequent investigation coupled with a battery of failed sobriety tests resulted in the arrest of Scott R. Ruditis, 24, of the Sault for operating while intoxicated. Ruditis was lodged in the Chippewa County Jail.
Property damaged
Sault Police were called to the 600 block of Bingham shortly after 7 a.m. Thursday after a resident awoke to find her lawn ornaments and associated plants had been vandalized.
One or more individuals apparently visited the yard during the overnight hours, damaging plants, toppling duck statues, breaking two small U.S. Flag poles and smashing a garden light before making off with a mermaid lawn ornament valued at $35.
There are no suspects in this matter.
Suspicious situation
City police were called to a local apartment complex Thursday to investigate the discovery of possible drug contraband.
The partially-burnt item, which reports indicate was likely a flower, was found in a vacated apartment. A subsequent test revealed no sign of illegal substances and officers quickly closed their investigation into this matter.
Missing laptop
Finally, Sault Police took a walk-in complaint from a new laptop owner who inadvertently left his recent purchase at an Ashmun Street fast food restaurant only to have it disappear in his absence.
The man explained he had made the purchase approximately seven hours before dining and since he wasn't used to carrying it from place to place he departed without a second thought. When he returned — in an estimated 5-10 minutes — it was already gone.
The missing device is valued at $450.
There are no suspects in the laptop's disappearance.


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Too early to tell how winter affected deer
After a fairly subdued start to winter, things have turned old-fashioned, adding to the challenges deer will face before the arrival of spring.
The last few weeks' furious winter will pose a short-term challenge to area deer, but the long-term affect is yet to be determined.
"Overall, winter has been pretty mild up until recently," said Ashley Autenreith, Department of Natural Resources deer specialist. "We have seen the Winter Severity Index climb over the last few weeks."
To gauge the severity of the winter as a whole, the Winter Severity Index is used to determine the impact of winter weather on deer.
The WSI system uses current weather data from the National Climatic Data Center, as well local information on air temperature, wind speed, and precipitation, all of which play into the WSI for each region in Michigan. The calculations are run weekly from November through April.
Though this most recent rash of weather will alter the WSI, it is designed to be an all-encompassing assessment, not an indicator of the harshness of isolated incidents.
"You really have to look at the winter as a whole, not just one storm," Autenreith said. "A severe storm will impact deer, but the WSI looks at the entire winter."
Though deer have warm weather to look forward to, its uncertain when it will arrive. In recent years, early March has meant the arrival of spring, meaning melting snow and warm temperatures. Until this weather arrives, one of the factors most threatening deer will be predation.
Wolves, even coyotes, are designed to travel in deep snow while deer are not. This gives them a decisive edge over their foes lower on the food chain.
"Their paws are pretty big, so they can stay on top of the snow pretty well, but deer can't," explained Autenreith. "That gives a big advantage to the predators and is why we usually see predators do well in tough winters."
Another advantage of predators during the winter is the tendency of deer to congregate after brutal storms.
"We haven't seen a lot of that yarding behavior this winter," said Autenreith. "When deer are concentrated in one area that does make it easier for predators."
The next month or so will go a long way in determining the overall severity of this winter and the impact it will have on the area deer herd.
"This winter will probably end up being more severe than last winter and the winter before, but we could still end up seeing population growth in the northern Lower Peninsula," Autenreith added.
If winter tapers off in the coming month, hunters could have the good fortune of seeing even more deer next deer season.


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|Cheese and Tomato Galette
One of the bonuses of blogging is that you get to meet so many new people from all over the world. I have had a fascination with Catalonia in Spain and Portugal for many reasons. Once I have saved all my "buttons" I am sure this will be my next destination of choice. A blogger that we all know from Spain is Nuria of Spanish Recipes. If you have come to know her through her blog you have appreciated her wit and her winning personality.


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Lois Shepherd
- Peter A. Wallenborn, Jr. and Dolly F. Wallenborn Professor of Biomedical Ethics, University of Virginia
- Professor of Public Health Sciences
- Professor of Law
Lois Shepherd is an expert in the fields of health law and bioethics. Her primary appointment is in the medical school's Center for Biomedical Ethics and Humanities where she directs the center's programs in medicine and law. She teaches courses in health care law and ethics at both the law school and the medical school.
After receiving her law degree from Yale University, where she served as a senior editor of the Yale Law Journal, Shepherd practiced corporate law for six years with the Charlotte, N.C., firm of Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson, P.A. She began her academic career in 1993 at the Florida State University College of Law. Prior to joining the UVA faculty, Shepherd was the Florida Bar Health Law Section Professor and D'Alemberte Professor of Law at Florida State.
Within the field of bioethics and law, Shepherd's current scholarly and teaching interests are focused on legal and ethical issues at the end of life and in human subject research.
- J.D.Yale Law School1987
- B.A.University of North Carolina1984
Books and White Papers
Rationing Health Care at the End of Life (White Paper, Miller Center of Public Affairs, 2010).
If That Ever Happens to Me: Making Life and Death Decisions After Terri Schiavo (UNC Press, forthcoming 2009).
Bioethics and the Law (with Janet L. Dolgin), Aspen Publishers, Inc., 2005.
Teachers' Manual, Bioethics and the Law, Aspen Publishers, Inc., 2005.
Law Review Articles
"SUPPORT and Comparative Effectiveness Trials: What's at Stake?," Hastings Center Rep., Jan./Feb. 2015, at 44.
"Welcome, Healing, and Ethics" (with Margaret Moorman), 50 Wake Forest L. Rev. 259 (2015).
HeinOnline (PDF)
"What Is Reasonably Foreseeable? Lessons Learned from the SUPPORT Trial" (with Daniel M. Trifiletti & Timothy N. Showalter), 92 Int'l J. Radiation Oncology • Biology • Physics 718 (2015).
""Organ Procurement Now: Ethical Shortcomings in America's Blended System" (with Leili Monfared)
"The End of End-of-Life Law," 92 N.C. L. Rev. 1693 (2014).
"The Hair Stylist, the Corn Merchant, and the Doctor: Ambiguously Altrustic," 42 J.L. Med. & Ethics 509 (2014).
The HPV Vaccine and Parental Consent" (with Donna T. Chen & Daniel M. Becker), 14 Virtual Mentor 5 (2012).
"In Plain Sight: A Solution to a Fundamental Challenge in Human Research" (with Margaret Foster Riley), 40 J.L. Med. & Ethics 970 (2012).
"Ready to Listen: Why Welcome Matters" (with Margaret E. Mohrmann), 43 J. Pain & Symptom Mgmt. 646 (2012).
"Different Ways to Understand Patient-Centered Health Law," 45 Wake Forest L. Rev. 1469 (2010).
SSRN | HeinOnline (PDF)
"Patient-Centered Health Law and Ethics," (with Mark A. Hall), 45 Wake Forest L. Rev. 1427 (2010).
SSRN | HeinOnline (PDF)
"Asking Too Much: Autonomy and Responsibility at the End of Life," 26 J. Contemp. Health L. Pol. 72 (2009).
"Heroes, Lawyers, and Writers: A Review of Two Schiavo Books," 31 Nova L. Rev. 316 (2007) (invited book review).
"Rethinking Health Law: Introduction," 41 Wake Forest Law Review 341 (2006) (with Mark A. Hall and Carl E. Schneider) (symposium introduction).
"Rethinking Health Law: Assuming Responsibility," 41 Wake Forest Law Review 446 (symposium issue) (2006), reprinted in ICGAI Journal of Healthcare Law (May 2006 issue).
"Terri Schiavo and the Disability Rights Community," 2006 Chicago Legal Forum 253 (symposium issue) (2006).
"State Legislative Proposals Following Schiavo: What Are They Thinking?" 15 Temple Political and Civil Rights Law Review 361 (symposium issue) (2006).
"Terri Schiavo: Unsettling the Settled," 37 Loyola U. Chicago L. J. 297 (2006) (symposium issue).
"In Respect of People Living in a Permanent Vegetative State—And Allowing Them to Die," 16 Health Matrix 631 (2006).
"Shattering the Neutral Surrogate Myth in End-of-Life Decisionmaking: Terri Schiavo and Her Family," 35 Cumberland L. Rev. 575 (2005) (symposium issue) (listed on the top ten downloaded articles from SSRN Disability Law).
"Face to Face: A Call for Radical Responsibility in Place of Compassion," 77 St. John's L. Rev. 445 (2003).
"Genes and Disability: Questions at the Crossroads," 30 Florida St. U. L. Rev. xi (2003) (with Mary Crossley).
"Looking Forward with the Right of Privacy," 49 Kansas L. Rev. 251 (2001).
"HIV, the ADA, and the Duty to Treat," 37 Houston L. Rev. 1055 (2000) (symposium issue).
"Dignity and Autonomy after Washington v. Glucksberg: An Essay About Abortion, Death, and Crime," 7 Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy 431 (1998).
"Sophie's Choices: Medical and Legal Responses to Suffering," 72 Notre Dame L. Rev. 103-156 (1996), excerpted in William J. Curran, et al., Health Care Law and Ethics, 5th ed., 1997 (casebook).
"Protecting Parents' Freedom to Have Children with Genetic Differences," 1995 U. Ill. L. Rev. 727-812 (1995).
Other Scholarly Publications
"Aging Populations and Public Health Ethics," in Anna Mastroianni et. al. eds., The Oxford Handbook of Public Health Ethics (Oxford Handbooks Online, 2019).
"Changing the Rules on Withdrawing Nutrition and Hydration: From "Terri's Law" to the 'Starvation and Dehydration' Bill," Florida Bar Public Interest Law Section Reporter, April 2004, at 1.
"Prenatal Genetic Testing and Narrative," with Aline Kalbian, American Journal of Bioethics 3(4):W15-W21 (2003), available at www.ajobonline.com.
"Stenberg v. Carhart: Supreme Court Invalidates Nebraska's "Partial Birth" Abortion Law," Health Law News, Sept. 2000, at 8.
"A Right to Palliative Care? What the U.S. Supreme Court Did and Did Not Say in the Physician-Assisted Suicide Cases," 16 J. Pall. Care 48 (2000).
"Abortion Cases: Court Upholds Both Fixed Buffer Zones and Parental Notification," Health Law News, Sept. 1997, at 6.
Chapter, "Organ Procurement and Transplantation" in Healthcare Facilities Law; Critical Issues for Hospitals, HMOs, and Extended Care Facilities, Anne Dellinger, ed., Little, Brown and Company, 1991, with supplements for 1992, 1993 and 1995.
"The Risk of Transfusion-Associated AIDS: Offering Patients an Active Role in their Care," American Journal of Medical Quality, Vol. 7, No. 4 (Winter 1992).
Related Publications
"Legislation Goes Beyond Terri Shiavo," Tallahassee Democrat, Mar. 16, 2005 (commenting on proposed legislation in Florida).
"Gov. Bush: Health Care Surrogate," Tallahassee Democrat, Oct. 26, 2003 (commenting on the Terri Schiavo case).
Current Courses
All Courses
Law of Reproduction
Disability Law
Faculty in the News
Kim Forde-Mazrui, Fairfax Schools Removes Mentions of Race in Ads for College Prep Program (The Washington Post)
Michael A. Livermore, Manchin's Gas Pipeline Enjoys Rare Legal Protection in Debt Deal (Bloomberg Law)
Michael A. Livermore, S2E9. Jenny Kendler on Art and Environmental Crisis (Free Range With Mike Livermore)


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Search criteria:
List of files deposited in CurateND that match your search criteria
- Author(s):
- Christopher D. Kagelman, Devon E. Mason, James H. Dawahare, Genevieve D. Vigil, Scott S. Howard, Teresita M. Bellido, Alexander G. Robling, Joel Boerckel
- Abstract:
The functions of the transcriptional co-activators YAP and TAZ in bone are controversial. Each has been observed to either promote or inhibit osteogenesis in vitro, while their roles in bone development are unknown. Here we report that combinatorial YAP/TAZ deletion from skeletal cells in mice caused osteogenesis imperfecta with severity dependent on targeted cell lineage and allele dosage. Osteocyte-conditional deletion impaired bone accrual and matrix collagen, while allele dosage-dependent…
- Date Published:
- 2017-05
- Record Visibility:
- Public
1 entry found


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PHOENIX (AP) — Hundreds of pages of police reports in the investigation of the Tucson shooting rampage that wounded former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords are being released Wednesday, marking the public's first glimpse into documents that authorities have kept private since the attack more than two years ago.
The Pima County sheriff's department will release an estimated 2,700 pages of records from the January 2011 shooting at a meet-and-greet event outside a grocery store that killed six people and wounded Giffords and 11 others. The documents include transcribed interviews with witnesses, various police reports and other records, and could provide new insight into how the shooting occurred.
News organizations seeking the records were repeatedly denied the documents in the months after the shooting and the arrest of 24-year-old Jared Lee Loughner, who was sentenced in November to seven consecutive life sentences, plus 140 years, after he pleaded guilty to 19 federal charges.
U.S. District Judge Larry Burns had prevented the sheriff's department from releasing the records in response to a request from The Washington Post, ruling in March 2011 that Loughner's right to a fair trial outweighed whatever disclosures might be authorized under state law.
Last month, Burns cleared the way for the release of the records after Star Publishing Company, which publishes the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson, had sought their release. The judge said Loughner's fair-trial rights are no longer on the line now that his criminal case has resolved.
Loughner's guilty plea enabled him to avoid the death sentence. He is serving his sentence at a federal prison medical facility in Springfield, Mo., where he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and forcibly given psychotropic drug treatments.
Arizona's chief federal judge and a 9-year-old girl were among those killed in the rampage. Giffords was left partially blind, with a paralyzed right arm and brain injury. She resigned from Congress last year and has since started, along with her husband, a gun control advocacy group.
The Star said it wanted the records because they contain information about how a mass shooting occurs, including how long it took Loughner to fire gunshots — an issue raised by some advocates in the debate over high-capacity pistol magazines.
The Tucson newspaper argued that the records are critical in the national debate over whether such shootings could be prevented by armed resistance, whether a mass shooting occurs too quickly to be stopped and whether people with mental illnesses should be prohibited from getting guns.
Phoenix Newspapers Inc., which publishes The Arizona Republic, and KPNX-TV had joined Star Publishing in the latest effort to get the records released.


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As I have been saying, food prices are going to skyrocket. We don't even eat pork here, but this is going to affect a lot of households, and it isn't factored into the inflation index. Please, please, please get all the food you can and store it properly and well and plant whatever you can as a hedge against food chaos. No more living "high on the hog" for many.
You might recall that "traceability" is supposed to stop this kind of thing from happening. As those of us who opposed NAIS and ADTF have said, no tracking, tracing, RFID tag or premises number will halt disease! Commercial hogs are pretty close to 100% traceable…Sometimes it sucks being right.
US bacon prices rise after virus kills baby pigs
Scientists think porcine epidemic diarrhea, which does not infect humans or other animals, came from China, but they don't know how it got into the country or spread to 27 states since last May. The federal government is looking into how such viruses might spread, while the pork industry, wary of future outbreaks, has committed $1.7 million to research the disease.
The U.S. is both a top producer and exporter of pork, but production could decline about 7 percent this year compared to last — the biggest drop in more than 30 years, according to a recent report from Rabobank, which focuses on the food, beverage and agribusiness industries.
Already, prices have shot up: A pound of bacon averaged $5.46 in February, 13 percent more than a year ago, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Ham and chops have gone up too, although not as much.
Farmer and longtime veterinarian Craig Rowles did all he could to prevent PED from spreading to his farm in Iowa, the nation's top pork producer and the state hardest hit by the disease. He trained workers to spot symptoms, had them shower and change clothing before entering barns and limited deliveries and visitors.
Despite his best efforts, the deadly diarrhea attacked in November, killing 13,000 animals in a matter of weeks, most of them less than 2 weeks old. The farm produces about 150,000 pigs each year.
Estimates of how many pigs have died in the past year vary, ranging from at least 2.7 million to more than 6 million. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the die-off has had a hand in shrinking the nation's pig herd by 3 percent to about 63 million pigs.
Diarrhea affects pigs like people: Symptoms that are uncomfortable in adults become life-threatening in newborns that dehydrate quickly. The best chance at saving young pigs is to wean them and then pump them with clear fluids that hydrate them without taxing their intestines. But nothing could be done for the youngest ones except euthanasia.
"It's very difficult for the people who are working the barns at that point," Rowles said. "… No one wants to go to work today and think about making the decision of baby pigs that need to be humanely euthanized because they can't get up anymore. Those are very hard days."
PED thrives in cold weather, so the death toll in the U.S. has soared since December.
The first reports came from the Midwest, and the states most affected are those with the largest share of the nation's pigs: Iowa, Minnesota, North Carolina and Illinois. The disease also has spread to Canada and Mexico.
Some states now require a veterinarian to certify that pigs coming in are virus-free, while China, which has seen repeated outbreaks since the 1980s, has asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to similarly vouch for animals shipped overseas.
Companies are racing to develop a vaccine, but the federal government has yet to approve one. While the mass deaths have been a blow for farmers, the financial impact to them may be limited because pork prices are rising to make up for the loss of animals.
It takes about six months for a hog to reach market weight so the supply will be short for a while. Smithfield Foods, one of the nation's largest pork processors, has cut some plant shifts to four days per week in North Carolina, and those in the Midwest are likely to do so later this spring, said Steve Meyer, an Iowa-based economist and pork industry consultant.
Smithfield Foods declined to comment.
In the end, consumers will be most affected, Meyer said, with pork prices likely to be 10 percent higher overall this summer than a year ago.
"We're all used to: 'We've got plenty of food, it's cheap. We'll eat what we want to,'" Meyer said. "We Americans are very spoiled by that, but this is one of those times that we're going to find out that when one of these things hits, it costs us a lot of money."


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Middle East journalist Mary Abdelmassih has reported that on the occasion of Egyptian President Mubarak's visit to Washington this week to attend the Mideast talks, Coptic Christians in the US and Canada staged a peaceful rally on September 2nd outside the White House to protest the persecution of Copts in Egypt, reports Dan Wooding, founder of ASSIST Ministries.
The Motto of the rally was: "President Mubarak Make Peace in Your Country First."
In her story for the Assyrian International News Agency (www.aina.org), Abdelmassih said that according to a press release by the rally organizer Coptic Solidarity, based in North America, the Egyptian regime, represented by Mubarak, is a key partner in the persecution of the Copts. President Mubarak comes Washington to market his regime and his family's through the Palestinian issue, and we must tell him "stop persecuting the Copts…make peace in your country first."
"Mubarak brought back Coptic persecution to the level experienced under the Mameluke era (1250-1517) in Egypt," says Coptic Solidarity. "Under the rule of President Mubarak, more than 1,500 of assault on Copts have occurred, without any appropriate punishment given to criminals or compensation to the victims."
"We want the whole world to know the oppression, violence and attacks on churches and property of the Copts under Mubarak's rule," said one rally participant. "They are targeting the Coptic family."
US-based Coptic activist Magdy Khalil told Coptic Hope-Sat in an interview that Mubarak gets his importance from being a peace broker, and he is coming to Washington to make a deal for his son's Gamal "inheritance" of the Presidency of Egypt. "He needs to get the green light from USA and Israel on one side and the Muslim brotherhood inside Egypt on the other." He added that Copts are not important for the regime to take into account.
Commenting on the White House rally, Magdy Khalil told the Egyptian daily Al Dostor that the intensive media presence for the Mideast talks "helped us to deliver a message to the whole world that Christians of Egypt have a problem. While the Palestinian issue is that of territorial dispute, the Copts are suffering from persecution."
Report from the Christian Telegraph


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The author of a bestseller billed as a "memoir" of a former "child soldier" may face thousands of dollars in penalties
By Janice Harayda
For years reporters have faulted the accuracy of some of the claims made by Ishmael Beah in his bestseller, A Long Way Gone. Now the Internal Revenue Service has faulted Beah's fund-raising arm, the Ishmael Beah Foundation (IBF), for failing to comply with tax regulations.
The Internal Revenue Service revoked the tax-exempt status of the foundation after the IBF failed to file the required IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ for three years in a row, according to Guidestar, a leading provider of information on charities. Guidestar warns potential donors: "This organization's exempt status was automatically revoked by the IRS for failure to file a Form 990, 990-EZ, 990-N, or 990-PF for 3 consecutive years. Further investigation and due diligence are warranted." The IBF could face penalties of up to $10,000 per return ($50,000 if the IRS considers it a large organization) or up to 5 percent of its gross receipts per year, if the foundation hasn't already paid such fines.
Guidestar's comment that the foundation needs "further investigation" isn't likely to surprise anyone who has followed closely the story of A Long Way Gone, a bestseller said to have sold at least 700,000 copies since the Sarah Crichton Books published it in 2007. Sarah Crichton bills Beah's book as a "memoir" by someone who spent more than two years as a "child solider" after being forced at the age of 13 to join the Sierra Leone army during its civil war with the rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).
But some of Beah's most important claims faced challenges from The Australian in Sydney, the Village Voice in New York, Sierra Eye in Sierra Leone, and other media. The questions raised by the book or news reports on it include:
Was Beah a "child soldier" and, if so, for how long? Beah says he fled his village and joined his government's army after attacks occurred in his region in 1993. The attacks actually took place in 1995, the Australian learned from published reports and interviews in Sierra Leone. That would mean Beah was a soldier for much less time than he says. "Instead of being a child soldier for two years from the age of 13 he may for instance have been one for two months at 15, which at that time would have been too old to be technically considered a 'child soldier' under UN provisions outlawing the use of under-age combatants," reporters for the Australian said. (The use of children under the age of 18 as soldiers was generally outlawed in 2002, when a multinational treaty raised the previous standard of 15 years set by the Geneva Conventions.)
Did Beah fabricate or embellish events? In a dramatic scene in A Long Way Gone, Beah says that a fight killed six people at a UNICEF-run refugee camp in Freetown, Sierra Leone, after he arrived there as a refugee. UNICEF found no evidence that such a fight occurred, a spokesman told the Village Voice. Others have asked whether Beah sensationalized his story to please reporters, human rights activists, his editor, or Laura Simms, a professional storyteller whom he calls his "adoptive mother." Those who have had questions include Neil Boothby, a distinguished scholar on children and war at Columbia University. "My take on this from the beginning was: There was some kind of exaggeration," Boothby told Graham Rayman of the Village Voice. "I've seen it over and over." Children of war, he said, "are encouraged to tell the sensational stories." Residents of Sierra Leone further challenged Beah's accounts a Sierra Eye magazine article called "A Long Way Gone Is a Long Way From Truth" republished in the Concord Times of Freetown, Sierra Leone, and elsewhere. The Concord Times article requires a subscription, but One-Minute Book Reviews summarized some of the main points.
Are Beah's parents and brothers alive? In A Long Way Gone Beah says that his parents and two brothers are dead, but his story leaves open the possibility that they may be alive. On the evidence of the book, he believes his parents are dead because he was told by by one man that they were in a house that burned down. When he went to investigate the blaze, he saw "heaps of ashes" but "no solid form of a body inside" in the charred dwelling. This account leaves open the possibility that his parents escaped from the house or that his sole informant was wrong and that they weren't there at all. And since the publication of A Long Way Gone unconfirmed rumors have circulated that at least one of his brothers may be alive.
Did Beah use composite characters or pass off other child soldiers' experiences as his own? Beah refused to answer when Rayman of the Village Voice asked if he had used composites or passed off other child soldiers' experiences as his own. If he wasn't pretending to have had others' experiences, why not just say "no"?
Anyone who wants answers to such questions gained another way to ask them last fall. Ishmael Beah (@IshmaelBeah) joined Twitter in October and said tweet to his followers: "I am still trying to figure out what to post! Maybe I should ask you, what it is that you would like me to post on here?" Beah might start by explaining why he didn't file tax returns for three years. He might also answer the question: How can we trust anything in him book when we can't trust him to meet one of the fundamental responsibilities of every resident of the United States?
Janice Harayda is an award-winning journalist who has been the book editor of the Plain Dealer in Cleveland and the book columnist for Glamour. You can follow Jan (@janiceharayda) on Twitter by clicking on the "Follow" button in the right sidebar.
Comments on posts on One-Minute Book Reviews must relate directly to their content, must contain no more than 250 words, and must be civil. They must also include a photo avatar, a first and last name, or a link to a site what includes these, unless their author is known to the proprietor of the site. Comments may not violate copyright, libel, defamation or other laws that apply. Any comment that does not meet these tests will be edited or deleted without advance notice.
© 2012 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved.


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New 2023 JeepWrangler 4-DOOR RUBICON 4X4
- Exterior Color
- Black
- Interior Color
- Black
- Body/Seating
- Sport Utility/5 seats
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- Transmission
- 8-Speed Automatic Transmission
- Drivetrain
- 4x4
- Engine
- 3.6L V6 24V VVT eTorque Engine Upg I
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Highlighted Features
- Navigation system
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Standard Specifications
- 1-touch down
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- Front tires: 315/70SR17.0C
- Power steering
- Rear anti-roll bar
- Rear tires: 315/70SR17.0C
- Tires: all-terrain
- Wheel size: 17"
- 1st row LCD monitors: 2
- AM/FM radio: SiriusXM
- Primary LCD size: 8.4"
- Radio data system
- Satellite radio trial duration with new vehicle purchase (months): 6
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- Speaker type: Alpine
- Speakers: 9
- Steering wheel mounted audio controls
- Wireless phone connectivity: Uconnect w/Bluetooth
- Basic warranty: 36 months/36,000miles
- Corrosion perforation warranty: 60 months/ unlimited distance
- Maintenance warranty: 36 months/ unlimited distance
- Powertrain warranty: 60 months/60,000miles
- Roadside assistance coverage: 60 months/60,000miles
- Front center armrest: w/storage
- Front seats: bucket
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- Alternator hybrid electric motor
- Compressor: Not Available
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- Engine liters: 3.6L
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- Fuel economy combined: 19mpg
- Fuel economy highway: 24mpg
- Fuel tank capacity: 21.5gal.
- Horsepower: 285hp @ 6,400RPM
- Hybrid electric powertrain type: MHEV (mild hybrid electric vehicle)
- Hybrid traction battery number of cells: 12
- Hybrid traction battery type: lithium ion
- Hybrid traction battery voltage: 48
- Limited slip differential: brake actuated
- Manual-shift auto: Autostick
- Number of valves: 24
- Rear locking differential
- Recommended fuel: Regular Unleaded
- Sequential multi-point fuel injection
- Standard fuel economy fuel type: gasoline
- Starter hybrid electric motor
- Torque: 260 lb.-ft. @ 4,800RPM
- Transmission: 8 speed automatic
- Variable valve control
- Approach angle: 47 deg
- Departure angle: 40 deg
- Ground clearance (min): 328mm (12.9")
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- Curb weight: 2,031kg (4,478lbs)
- Engine bore x stroke: 96.0mm x 83.0mm (3.78" x 3.27")
- Engine displacement: 3.6 L
- Engine horsepower: 285hp @ 6,400RPM
- Engine torque: 260 lb.-ft. @ 4,800RPM
- Exterior body width: 1,877mm (73.9")
- Exterior height: 1,908mm (75.1")
- Exterior length: 4,785mm (188.4")
- Front headroom: 1,034mm (40.7")
- Front hiproom: 1,369mm (53.9")
- Front legroom: 1,046mm (41.2")
- Front shoulder room: 1,417mm (55.8")
- GVWR: 2,767kg (6,100lbs)
- Interior cargo volume: 898 L (32 cu.ft.)
- Interior maximum cargo volume: 2,050 L (72 cu.ft.)
- Passenger volume: 2,936L (103.7 cu.ft.)
- Payload: 600kg (1,322lbs)
- Rear headroom: 1,021mm (40.2")
- Rear hiproom: 1,440mm (56.7")
- Rear legroom: 973mm (38.3")
- Rear shoulder room: 1,417mm (55.8")
- Towing capacity: 1,588kg (3,500lbs)
- Turning radius: 5.9m (19.4')
- Wheelbase: 3,007mm (118.4")
- Appearance: analog
- Compass
- Configurable
- Delay-off headlights
- Exterior parking camera rear: ParkView yes
- Front fog lights
- Front reading lights
- Fully automatic headlights
- Low tire pressure warning
- Outside temperature display
- Rear reading lights
- Rear window defroster
- Rear window wiper
- Tachometer
- Trip computer
- Variably intermittent wipers
- Voltmeter
- 4 wheel disc brakes
- ABS brakes
- Brake assist
- Brakes regenerative
- Dual front impact airbags
- Dual front side impact airbags
- Electronic stability
- Ignition disable
- Integrated roll-over protection
- Occupant sensing airbag
- Panic alarm
- Security system
- Tracker system
- Traction control
Dealer Notes
KBB.com Consumer Reviews
- 4.0
Cross wind squeal noise
By Kagreer on Thursday, May 07, 2020At around 70mph and a cross wind blowing from mainly to right side of Jeep causes a squealing noise coming from the dash. Took it to dealer who took out other 2020 and got the same result. He said it haha to do with the air intake process but was unable to fix. Not a show stopper love the car but by this time puzzled that a new car would have this kind of issue. Expect a resolution from Jeep!
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By Polknole on Tuesday, September 21, 2021The two things that have always kept me away from buying a Jeep were that they are too sluggish, and they are extremely inefficient. The 4XE solves both of those problems in spades! And, with the $7500 tax credit, it is also an extreme bargain compared to the other choices in the market.
* MSRP is the Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) of the vehicle. It does not include any taxes, fees or other charges. Pricing and availability may vary based on a variety of factors, including options, dealer, specials, fees, and financing qualifications. Consult your dealer for actual price and complete details. Vehicles shown may have optional equipment at additional cost.
*Pricing provided may vary significantly between website and dealer as a result of supply chain constraints. Pricing shown is non-binding and does not constitute an offer. Contact your dealer for updated vehicle pricing.
* The estimated selling price that appears after calculating dealer offers is for informational purposes, only. You may not qualify for the offers, incentives, discounts, or financing. Offers, incentives, discounts, or financing are subject to expiration and other restrictions. See dealer for qualifications and complete details.
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* Max payload/towing estimate ratings shown. Additional options, equipment, passengers, and cargo weight may affect payload/towing weights. See dealer for details.
* In transit means that vehicles have been built, but have not yet arrived at your dealer. Images shown may not necessarily represent identical vehicles in transit to your dealership. See your dealer for actual price, payments and complete details.
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Lord knows, it shouldn't be so hard to make vegetables taste good. Many cuisines do it with ease. At night, I dream of the infinite variety and subtlety of south Indian vegetarian curries, or the smack-in-the-face flavour hit of Laotian sticky rice, balled up and dipped into vinegary, charred chilli sauce. And then I awake and I am in Britain, where frozen mixed diced veg – sitting in a lukewarm pool of water – is still regularly served in schools, hospitals and motorway services. And I cry to dream again. The only consolation is that the French aren't much better at it than us. The other day, my old boss, the Michelin-starred chef Bruno Loubet, was telling me how he had to transform his classical cooking style before opening Grain Store, the restaurant in King's Cross where he serves high-concept, high-glamour vegetable dishes. Creating dishes that didn't have meat as their focus, he said, felt like learning to cook all over again. My own vegetable repertoire was transformed several years ago when I first ate a lunch cooked by Jane Baxter, my collaborator on this column (and on our new book Leon: Fast Vegetarian). There were five vegetable dishes on the table, each one thrillingly original and stand-alone tasty. I made notes at the table, which I later formed into some rules of thumb that I now use whenever I'm cooking veg. Here they are: * Think color People start eating with their eyes, so explore the color palette to make veg visually appealing. Soften vibrant red chili and garlic in a little oil in a frying pan and drizzle it over a plate of bright green broccoli; combine the warm orange and red of carrot and beetroot in a roasting tray; flash-fry sweet red tomatoes and mix them with green beans, topping them with golden, fried garlic. * Think architecture Shape and texture are critical to the way you taste. Stay that hand before it slices another carrot round! Try cutting them diagonally, or into batons (more delicate and yielding), or into rough random shapes. Visualize how they will look when mixed with your other ingredients. * Think texture There is a fashionable notion – in our view misplaced – that one should cook all vegetables so they still have an audible crunch. Broccoli, green beans, runners and carrots will all absorb dressings and other flavors better if they are a little softer. Ripped vegetables have their place, but there is room for luscious curves as well. * Think toppings Something a little crispy on top makes vegetables more special. We like toasted nuts (flaked almonds, pine nuts, smashed-up hazelnuts or cashews); golden, fried garlic; crispy shallots; fried breadcrumbs (with optional chopped garlic); toasted seeds; and Parmesan crust. * Think flavor enhancers Not monosodium glutamate (MSG), but the natural ones: olives, chili, capers, anchovies, soy sauce, harissa. Don't be frightened to give your vegetables a big flavor kick. When I asked Jane for her number one vegetable cooking tip she answered simply: if you can possibly avoid it, don't boil them. Hence her vastly superior take on classic cauliflower cheese. Its heart is British, but it is a recipe that could compete with the best vegetable dishes in the world. Instead of a heavy bechamel (flour, butter and milk) sauce, she uses creme fraiche (a very slightly soured cream). Instead of boiling, she roasts the cauliflower, which drives off some water and intensifies the flavour. She uses strong cheeses – Gruyere and a little Parmesan – and adds mustard for extra punch. The tiny bit of maple syrup is optional: it just adds extra depth to the flavour. Try making it once with and once without to see the difference.
Cauliflower cheese
This recipe is taken from
, by Jane Baxter and Henry Dimbleby. Prep time: 10 minutes Cooking time: 30 minutes Serves 4-6
1 head cauliflower
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp maple syrup
1 1/2 cups creme fraiche
1/4 cup gruyere cheese, grated
2 tsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp parmesan, grated
1 tbsp chives, chopped
Salt and black pepper 1 Preheat the oven to 170C/335F/gas mark 31/2. Cut the cauliflower into florets and toss them in the olive oil and maple syrup. Season well. Place in a gratin dish or roasting tray and cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes until just tender. 2 Combine the creme fraiche with the Gruyere and mustard in an oven-proof bowl. Tip the roasted cauliflower florets into the bowl, mix well until coated and season. 3 Sprinkle the cauliflower cheese mix with grated Parmesan and return it to the oven for another 10 minutes until golden. Sprinkle with chives.
For showing off
You can create a more wintry cauliflower cheese by using blue cheese and toasted walnuts. Make a richer dish by whisking an egg yolk into the creme fraiche and drizzling the top with truffle oil. Add crunch by topping it with breadcrumbs, crushed garlic and lemon zest. Or go green and spring-like by mixing in some cooked, chopped spinach and lots of soft herbs, such as tarragon and parsley. Henry Dimbleby is co-founder of the natural fast-food restaurant chain
). Get your kids cooking at
This article originally appeared on


text:
To find the nearest (and thus probably the fastest) mirror, see the list of Debian mirrors.
When downloading files from a Debian mirror using FTP, be sure to download the files in binary mode, not text or automatic mode.
The installation images are located on each Debian mirror in the directory debian/dists/stretch/main/installer-i386/current/images/ — the MANIFEST lists each image and its purpose.


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Despite having an aversion to resting places of the dead, I found myself enjoying walks through a couple of cemeteries on a recent visit that I made to Japan with a few friends. One did have the distinction of being the largest cemetery in the country. Located on Mount Koya (高野山 Koya-san) in Wakayama Prefecture (和歌山県), that cemetery does not just contain an estimated 200,000 graves, but a site which is sacred to the Shingon School of Buddhism, being where the mausoleum of the sect's founder, Kukai or Kobo-Daishi, is located and where he is said to lie in eternal meditation. The cemetery, together with the mausoleum at the end of a 2 kilometre walk through the cemetery is in fact a pilgrimage site for Shingon Buddhism, one of the mainstream schools of Buddhism in Japan. It part of the larger Koyasan area which again makes up part of the "Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range" which was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004.
Set in what does seem like an enchanted forest of ancient towering cedar trees, the cemetery is one of the must visit sites in the Koyasan area, which lies at the heart of Shingon Buddhism, having been where Kukai established his monastery in the 9th century – the 900m altitude valley was said to have been chosen as a retreat as its layout resembled a eight petal lotus flower with it being surrounded by eight peaks. At its height during the Edo period, it is thought that there were some 2,000 temples in Koyasan, of which only 123 exist today.
The walk through the cemetery starts with the crossing of Ichino-hashi (一の橋), a bridge which marks the entrance to the sacred site. From the bridge, a pleasant 2 kilometre walk through the air of calm provided by the cedar trees which line the well paved cobblestone path surrounded by the ordered disorder of the cemetery's moss covered gravestones, is what it takes to reach Okunoin (奥の院). Okunoin is the inner sanctuary where Gobyo (御廟), the mausoleum of Kūkai is located and where lights of a thousand years are said to burn in some of the 10,000 lanterns found in the Toro-do (燈籠堂) or Lantern Hall which stands in front of Gobyo.
The walk, does provide for many fascinating discoveries – if one has the time to look for them. There are the graves of many religious leaders, feudal lords, military commanders and more recent ones where business leaders find rest – some which do go back to 12th century. There also are several other interesting finds – one that will not be hard to locate would be the Sugatami-no-ido (姿見の井戸) or the Well of Reflections. Found immediately after the second bridge, Nakano-hashi (中の橋), legend has it that if one looks into the well and does not see his or her reflection, death will come to that person within three years.
There are also several others discoveries to be made beyond the Nakano-hashi. These include the Zenni-jochi (禅尼上智碑) – a 90 cm memorial to a Buddhist nun. It is said that one would be able to hear the cries in hell by placing one's ear on the stone. Another one which would not be missed is a memorial to soldiers who perished in North Borneo during the second world war. That is immediately identifiable from the three flags – that of Japan, Malaysia and Australia, which hang on a flag pole at the memorial.
It is not long before one comes to the Gobyo-bashi (御廟橋), the bridge over the Tamagawa – the stream which separates the most sacred inner sanctuary, Okunoin, from the rest of the cemetery. Looking beyond the bridge, the Toro-do is seen at the end of the path up a flight of steps. It is with the sacred waters of the Tamagawa that pilgrims, many dressed in white robes, cleanse themselves before entering the sanctuary. The inner sanctuary is also where the Miroku-ishi (弥勒石) or Miroku stone can be found – a short distance from the bridge. It is said that the stone feels light to the good and heavy to the sinful.
Crossing the Gobyo-bashi, after which photography is not permitted, one does feel a sense of inner peace. This is heightened stepping into the Toro-do where the chanting of the rows of saffron robed monks somehow adds to the peaceful atmosphere. Having found a semblance of the peace that many seek in making a pilgrimage to Okunoin, it was then time to head back. The walk towards Ichino-hashi, made longer than it might have been by the shower of hail and by the biting wind, was in no way less enjoyable (although my companions would probably disagree with me) than the walk in to Okunoin. As we cross over the Ichino-hashi we see more heading into the cemetery – the cemetery does in all probability draw a substantial portion of the 1.2 million visitors that come to Mount Koya annually, many on a spiritual journey, and some like us, just to discover the peace and beauty that only a cemetery such as this is able offer.
Getting there:
Mount Koya (高野山 Koya-san) is quite easily accessible from Osaka via the Nankai Electric Railway's Koya Line. Trains leave regularly from Osaka's Namba Station and all it takes is an hour and a half by express train to Gokurakubashi, 5 minutes by funicular up to Koyasan. From Kōyasan, there are public buses to Ichino-bashi. A round trip ticket that includes the train, funicular and a two day bus ticket can be purchased at Osaka Namba station for ¥2780.
Visitors to Mount Koya have the option of a unique experience an overnight stay at one of 53 temples, such as the Shojoshin-in Temple which is just by the Ichino-hashi which my friends and I put up at. Included in the cost of accommodation is two vegetarian meals (breakfast and dinner). More information on this can be found at Japanese Guest Houses.
Resources on Koyasan / Okunoin:
Koyasan Shingon Buddhism
Kukai / Kobo-Daishi
Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range (UNESCO)
Okunoin (奥の院), the inner sanctuary
Gobyo (御廟), the mausoleum of Kobo Daishi
Toro-do (燈籠堂) or Lantern Hall
Nankai Electric Railway Koya Line
Koyasan/Gokurakubashi Station information
Nankai Electric Railway Guide on Koyasan
Japanese Guest Houses (Koyasan)